Dreamer's Ball
by FlowerofAdversity
Summary: Delving into the dream realm, taking inspiration from Legend of the Guardians Sandman and Neil Gaiman's Dream as well as Kirby's Dreamverse, Sailor Moon, and Knights into Dreams. Inspiration for the tale comes from onierist BrightStarAngie. I guess you could call me an onierist too !
1. Chapter 1

Dreamer's Ball

Synopsis: A Power Rangers story like you've never seen one before. What if you could truly fly? What if you could visit the dream world in person?  
Chapter 1-Making Merry and Bright The Rangers were busily decorating HQ with sparkly garlands and dazzling lights. Somni, Alpha, Delta and Beta had set up an artificial tree with every single trimming. With winter break coming around the corner, they were prepared for Christmas, which was actually a few weeks away. 'That's looking rather festive.', Billy mentioned, giving Zack a pat on the back. They were all relieved after savoring their first day on winter break. They couldn't wait to show Zordon the fruits of their labor once all the decor had been put into place. Even in Angel Grove, the buildings of the downtown districts were being adorned with lights and wreaths. Stores and businesses galore were being festooned. Kim and Aisha stood back and marveled at their work. Bulk and Skull were in a merry mood as well, singing Christmas carols. 'Hey guys, nice decorations !', Bulk complimented. 'You know, we're going to be having a sleepover at Rocky's cabin in the woods.', Aisha said. No one had known that Rocky even *had* property in the country, but since the snow had started falling, it would be the perfect vista for the upcoming holiday season.  



	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2-Treats and Surprises Beta, Alpha, Delta and Somni prepped Rocky's cottage while he was away. It even smelled of spruce and cinnamon before they came in. It was an inviting bouquet, and not at all overpowering. 'Welcome one and all !', Delta stated in her angelic tone. Alpha had to admit, when he heard her speak, he fell in love all over again. He noticed something different about Somni and Beta, though, and wondered why they were acting a bit more excited and eager than usual. He could pick up on their subtle cues. 'Soon enough,', he mused, 'They'll let us know what they're being so secretive about.', Trini nudged one of the bots, playfully. Everyone was in such a jovial mood that it was contageous. Cookies, milk, cocoa and tons of gifts had been laid out neatly under the massive faux spruce in the den. Somni sang Silent Night while they all settled down to sleep. Quietly she snuggled next to Beta and nuzzled him affectionately. 'Tomorrow, we'll make the announcement.', she said, her grin sparkling in the moonlight. 'Indeed. It's very appropriate timing, too.', she said.  



	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3-Infiltrator of Dreams Dr. Aloiscious Nightshade was an energy vampire that moonlit as a psychologist. During the night, however, he used his mental ability to infiltrate people's dreams in order to feed off their energy as they slept in their vulnerable states. Granted, he wasn't necessarily an 'evil' sort, just a trickster that required youthful exhuberance in order to exist. Nightshade was a shapeshifter. Normal dimensions didn't apply to him. Preparing for his evening slumber, he closed his eyes and was drawn to the nearest source of dream energy. He sneaked in, unobtrusively, totally inconspicous. There were so many young, vibrant souls here, just ripe for the feasting. They would never know he had been there, let alone snuck away in the night, stealthily. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4-Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This Jason's dream was paradise. It was a dojo, extending into infinity. Oddly enough, it was a shared dream of Tommy and Zach, but they overlapped. The three of them could spar or train alone. They also could dodge projectiles a la bullet time similar to the Matrix films. Bending the laws of physics was quite entertaining, not to mention fun and incredible. Kimberly's dream, shared with Trini, Katherine, Aisha and Tanya, was the Oneiros Mall, a huge shopping mall with 900+ stores and 10 anchor tenants. It was a shopper's paradise. In one store, Kimberly spotted the robot duchess Drossel von Flugel buying a new outfit. The brunette teen chuckled to herself, remembering how Pepper mentioned an online clothing store specifically for humanoid automatons. Somni was off catching Pokemon in a field, all dream-initatiors themselves like Jigglypuff, Hypno, Snorlax and cute ones such as Whimsicott and Rowlette. Beta was joining her, but he fixed his gaze on fire and grass types. They were off together, laughing and having a blast. Pepper was contemplating the stars, mapping out the constellations. ASIMO joined her, narrating the tales of Greek myths that surrounded them. Soon, she found herself and ASIMO blanketed in fairy dust, just like the tale of Peter Pan. She had many happy thoughts, similar to the book. Before long she was floating and flying, soaring amongst the stars and even playing with them. ASIMO soon joined her, actually laughing right along with her. Billy had a laboratory all his own. Everything was immaculate, but there was a dream shard located there that he had no clue as to it's ability and potency. It was just such a shard that Dr. Nightshade could impliment to tap into everyone's dreams and lock everyone into their dreamworld permanently if need be. His energy reserves would be replenished until the humans died out completely. Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull savored their arcade-topia. Things were a little strange though. Nothing they played worked. 'What kind of a gyp is this ?', Bulk complianed. 'No, look, I think that air hockey table's functional !', Skull said, with an air of optimism. Their dream began to warp and shift, making them both feel woozy. 'Come on, we have to get out of here.', Bulk said, trying not to vomit as they exited. They followed a light to another realm where they found Billie levitating a few feet off the ground. A man, whom they recognized to be Angel Grove High's guidance councelor, was draining Billy of energy. 'That's quite enough ! Drop him !', they said, one right after another. 'Or what ? He's touched the dream shard and learned of its importance. One step closer to it and I'll have all I ever needed, wanted and even more. I'll become a GOD.', Nightshade cackled. His screeching laugh made their blood curdle. Seeing their friend so helpless like that made them insensed. The two of them hated to fight and had sensed that this was no mere mortal creature. They were going to require assistance and the sooner the better, for the battle to come was going to be ugly. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5-No Turning Back Even Bulk, Skull, and the bots couldn't believe what was happening. Skull had an ingenious plan. Just because a dream walker was amongst them, didn't mean that he had control over the entire dream. He was one entity, and they were a small batallion. With one single whistle, he broke Nightshade's hold on Billy and Billy wrested himself free of Nightshade's grip. 'Grab the shard, find a place to hide it !', he yelled, tossing it across the room to Bulk. Nightshade could easily shift from one end of the room to another, and thwacked Bulk right in the breadbasket. 'I'll take that shard, thank you very much.', the shapeshifter heckled. Skull grasped the falling shard before Nightshade could get to it and amped up his speed to escape him. 'You can only go so far. Sooner or later, I'll find where you're hiding.', Aloiscious vowed. Skull knew the new abilities gained from the dream realm would serve him well, and he took Billy with him as he looked for other dream avenues to join everyone together. The whistle hadn't worked eariler, but seeing the avenues begin to knit into one, he thought, 'Why not, try it again ?' There was no turning back now. He needed his friend's help now more than ever. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6-Showdown in Dreamland Kat, Aisha, Kim, Trini, Rocky, Jason, Zack and the bots had all assembled once they heard Skull's whistle. Billy didn't have time to tell them the significance of the dream shard but they had a feeling it was extremely important. 'Why do you want to make this difficult for me ? Just hand over the shard and no one will be harmed.', Aloicious offered. At least he was a reasonable sort of villain. They knew that if they *did* hand it over to him that he would use it for malicious intent. 'I didn't want it to come to this but you leave me no choice !', the dream intruder croaked, raising his hands and forming tentacles round about himself. Each one grasped one of our heroes, trying to squeeze the life out of them. The bots had been the only ones to escape the vice grip . Somni looked calm, almost serene. 'Rangers, Beta, Delta, Alpha, cover your ears.', she suggested. From her heart, she sang a lyrical lullaby. Even though he was an extremely powerful interloper, he was defenseless against Somni's ethereal strains. Without raising a hand, the Rangers got the shard and brought it back into the realm of consciousness. They booted Zordon to do some research on it and were flummoxed by the results. It was the crystallized essence of everyone's dreams. 'This crystal, Rangers, is the essence of the Dream Dimension's existence and is protected by Lumina in the Temple of Starlight.', Zordon explained in his usual sagely tone. 'Where is the temple, Zordon ?', Zack asked. Then the Rangers did a double take. They could communicate to their mentor in the dream world as well. Zordon himself was in his own dream, where he discovered another crystal shard.

'I can lead you there. Lumina and I are old friends.', Zordon said. Following his lead, they took a few turns that were quicker than a cat's whisker and arrived long before Aloicious could ever wake from his slumber, but there was no telling how long Somni's sleep spell would hold him in that state. 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7-Lumina's Shards

Billy gave the shard back to Lumina, who thanked him profusely for his bravery, as well as everyone else involved. She explained that energy vampires such as Aloicious were ancient parasites, only existing from other's essense. Once the energy was exhausted in a population, he would inevitably die out, but it was a price to pay for having switched his path from eumancy to necromancy.

'The shards were sent throughout my realm where I couldn't locate them. I and the Interlopers were in a battle that ultimately shattered the Master Dream Gem. You found the 'Reverie' half. Zordon, thankfully recovered the 'Nightmare' shard. You can't have one without the other; the two are required to maintain balance.

'We can't really stick around, and you know why. Aloicious will wake soon and come looking for your temple.', Somni stated in a somewhat tremulous voice. Lumina opened the portal to the waking world and closed her realm off to any further intrusion. She was simply a watcher of dreams, good or bad. No more leeches could ever sap her jewels of their power ever again.

All had gone well until Aloicious ultimately awoke. Unable to enter the sacred Dream Realm, he desperately followed the Rangers and bots back into the waking world until he awoke, and he was stuck until another evening.

'That was far too close.', Tommy breathed a sigh of relief. 'I don't know about you, but I'm still tuckered out.', Zack said. 'I'll chant a protection spell. If Aliocious tries to drain your energy again he won't be able to lift a hand or tentacle against you.', Zordon said, orating in an ancient tongue that sounded like a mixture of Aramaic, Sanscrit, Latin, Hebrew and Esparanto. With that, the Rangers and bots took a much needed power nap, but Somni and Beta's excitement could almost not be contained until they awoke for the second time. 


	8. Epilogue (and TBC)

~*~Epilogue~*~

It was Christmas and Pepper had created a glorious feast with all the trimmings for her friends. She had Asimo help serve the table and the halls of HQ were filled with festive songs and laughter. 'We wanted to tell you our good news.', Somni said, after ringing a champagne flute, filled with faux bubbly of the Welch's. The Rangers sat, wrapt with attention to their friends. 'We're having twins !', Beta said, excitedly. 'Wait, so robots can...', Zach whispered to Rocky who shrugged and whispered back, 'Look, I don't know man. Apparently so.' They told them their names would be Morpheus and Pasithea after the same God and Goddess mentioned in Greek mythology. The friends were so happy for their companions' remarkable news that it made the holidays even jollier. It wouldn't be until summer that the babies would be born but until then, they anticipated the pitter patter of tiny, aluminum feet scampering about.

To Be Continued... 


End file.
